‘The Mystery of the Hidden House’ was written by Enid Blyton and published in 1948. This is one of the books from the Five Find-Outers series. Pip, Bets, Larry, Daisy and Fatty start off the holidays with a punishment. Their parents don’t allow them to get involved in any more mysteries. The hols seem to get more and more boring and there isn’t even a hint of a mystery but things start to change.

When Ern the village policeman’s nephew comes to the Five Find-Outers decide to have some fun with him. They make up a fake mystery, letting Ern solve it. While Ern is on a mission, he comes across a real mystery and sees mysterious things. He tells his new friends all about it. He says there’s an old house in the woods. The five children get excited and start looking for clues. Fatty, the leader of the group, bravely decides to go to the house and investigate. In the end, they succeed and capture the criminals.

This book keeps you on the edge of your seat and has a great ending. The story is so well described that you can even imagine yourself there. Although the beginning of the book is quite blurry it soon becomes interesting. I recommend this book to mystery lovers.

This brief but powerful story was published in 2008 and written by Tony Abbott. This fictional story is about a school boy named Tom Bender who struggles to get past the presence of Jessica, a burnt victim. This is told in first person which makes you feel even more connected to all the emotions.

At St. Catherine’s school, the students were not prepared for what was coming next. Even with the teacher’s descriptions, they weren’t able to picture how bad it was. People were so shocked when they saw Jessica’s face that some didn’t even dare to look at her. Jessica had stayed for medical attention at a nearby hospital. Everyone started to make up rumours about how she got burnt but only Tom knew the real story after a visit to her house. That’s when Tom and Jessica slowly started a small friendship together.

One day, Jessica has to leave because her doctor needs her at a different hospital. Tom starts to have mixed emotions about all this. He feels like he didn’t do enough for her and is devastated. He also has problems with his best friend Jeff, which made everything even worse. He doesn’t know what to do but Jessica helps calm him down and tell him that everything is alright. And with that, Jessica leaves without a trace. Tom Bender will never forget this moment in his life.

Firegirl tells a powerful story of friendship and having a connection with another person. It is a beautifully written book that young readers will treasure.